Loveland Ski Area

 This morning we left our Airbnb at 6:00 AM to spend the day at the Loveland Ski Area. I intentionally scheduled this as the last thing on our itinerary so that if someone broke a leg I wouldn’t have to cart them around the rest of our multi-state trip on crutches. Spoilers, thankfully everyone remained uninjured today.

Loveland consists of two mountains - the Valley and the Basin. Our first stop was the Valley, to get an idea of what people in Colorado consider the easy slopes. Cole and I quickly decided that we would be staying in this area and holding down the green runs for the day while Gabby, Joe, Sam, and Justin headed over to the Basin for some blues, and, in Joe’s case, one double black. We had several friends who warned us that that a green on the east coast is not the same as a green in Colorado, and we certainly found this to be true. At one point, Cole and I followed a sign that pointed to the “Easy Way” and then looked at each other in disbelief a few seconds later. That would be a blue minimum at Winterplace in West Virginia.

At one point, I made a new unexpected friend named Bob. I was waiting to get on the lift when the skier in front of me started giving me directions. “Step up here with me. Now ski to the red line. As the lift comes around, take a seat and put your poles to the side.” I was a little perplexed as to why this guy was giving me instructions, but figuring I just looked like a guy who had never ridden a lift before (although at this point I had literally dozens of rides under my belt) and this was just a friendly local, I obliged and took the seat next to him. There was minute or two of silence and then I asked, “What’s your name?” He asked me to repeat the question, I did, and he responded, “Well, I’m Bob.” I said, “Nice to meet you, Bob. I’m Ezra.” He did a double take. “Ezra?” I said, “Yes, Ezra.” He then profusely apologized. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you were my daughter’s boyfriend! You’re about the same height and both wearing a black mask!” We had a nice chat on the way up, and I chuckled to myself thinking about how confused he probably was that his daughter’s boyfriend was asking what his name was.

After a full day of skiing, we returned to our house for dinner, prepared in part by grill master Joe. Joe, is an expert at choosing occasions to cook when he knows everyone will be starving. At that point, he could probably serve plain peanut butter sandwiches and everyone would be happy. All joking aside, dinner was delicious. Tomorrow morning we’ll be leaving early to fly home!